


Show Me a Story

by Lilyliegh



Series: Appleshipping Week 2018 [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Loneliness, Sappy Fluff, you can never have too much fluff ... or use too many fluff tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 05:36:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14254140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilyliegh/pseuds/Lilyliegh
Summary: Rin is off to do humanitarian work, and Yuugo wants to support her in all her endeavors. But at the same time ... he really is going to miss her.





	Show Me a Story

**Author's Note:**

> for Appleshipping Week day 01 - loneliness

“You’re gonna be  _ fine.” _

Rin huffs. “Well of course I’m going to be fine. I’ve packed, I’ve checked, I've double-checked, I’ve  _ triple-checked –” _

Yuugo chuckes. “Why do you even need to double-check? It’s not like you’re going to forget something, and if you do you can just buy it anyways.”

Rin crosses her arms. “I’m serious, Yuugo.” She pinches her eyebrows together, creating a little dent that Yuugo presses his lips to. He brings his arms around to hug her close, and though Rin is anxious and stressed and will not admit it, she melts into his embrace. Rin was made to fit in his arms, Yuugo believes. He tells her that too, whispers it into her ear. 

“That is the sappiest shit you have ever said,” she says into his leather jacket, and though Yuugo can’t see her face he knows she’s smiling.

Today, Rin leaves for humanitarian work. There’s a little village six hours north of City that is in desperate need of a mechanic – one that can both teach and fix. As part of giving back to the larger dimension, Rin offered to go lend a hand. Yuugo thinks she’s the best fit for the job: Rin has the knowledge to fix any piece of machinery, and the patience and kindness to work alongside the local mechanics and share her learning with them. There isn’t another person in the entire dimension who Yuugo thinks would be a better fit than Rin, but still …

If Rin goes, that means she’ll be away from him.

Yuugo tightens his arms around Rin’s shoulders. She’s been gone for a couple days before, and so has he, but this will be the first time she’s gone for an entire month. Yuugo can’t imagine life without Rin, not after they’ve been together since childhood. She’s been with him through every step of his life, and while nothing of noticeable significance is bound to happen in the month that she’s gone, Yuugo feels empty inside thinking about spending a month all by himself.

What if he gets injured? What if she gets injured? What if he does something incredible like rescue a cat from a tree and Rin doesn't get to see it? What if  _ she  _ rescues a cat from a tree and Yuugo doesn’t get to see it? There are far too many wonderful things that could happen that they won’t get to share with one another.

Yuugo sniffles deeply into Rin’s shoulder.

“Yuugo,” Rin says, voice even but stern, “you better not get snot on my jacket.”

Yuugo presses his face further into her jacket. He won’t, but he doesn’t want to let go yet. He doesn’t want to let go  _ ever.  _ Now that today’s the day, all of his feelings are hitting him like a mighty fist and drilling him into the ground. All the adult knowledge he’s acquired feels like it’s dripping from his brain, and if his mouth was working correctly he’d tell Rin that he has no clue how he’ll survive on his own.

Her fingers toy with the fabric of his jacket. With each breath she takes, Yuugo feels it against his cheek and ear. How can she be so calm, Yuugo wonders. Can she hear the hammering of his heart in his chest? Can she feel the butterflies in his stomach?

Rin squeezes him tightly.

_ She can,  _ Yuugo thinks.

“Make sure to call Yuuya, all right,” she says. “And Yuzu too – call them both, invite them over, go for bike rides with them. Don’t hole yourself up in this apartment, all right?” A pause. “Or the garage. Please, Yuugo, promise me you’ll go out and enjoy yourself.”

Yuugo nods, sniffling sadly. “Y-you … have fun too.”

“Of course I will,” Rin says. “I’m really excited for this.”

“I’m glad.” His voice cracks.

Gently, Rin begins to let go of him. Yuugo clings at first, fingers tightening on her arms, but then Rin carefully eases the pressure from his hands and pushes him back – not far, just enough so that she can look at him more clearly. Yuugo’s eyes are filled to the brim with unshed tears, so his first glance of Rin is a green and orange blob. She comes closer, pressing a kiss to the corner of his lips, and then her soft fingers rub away the tears in his eyes.

“Hey,” she says. “I love you.”

Yuugo blinks back more tears. He can see Rin now. She’s not crying but smiling, the apples of her cheeks a warm pink like the sunsets they’ve biked underneath. Her hair pops from the crown of her head in all shades of green, and her bangs are bordered by a cord of mossy-coloured hair. There’s a braid in Rin’s hair from last night when Yuugo braided her hair; she’s left it in, even fastened it at the bottom with a little orange elastic.

She’s also wearing her humanitarian gear – a one-piece work uniform in orange. It makes her look like a construction worker, and last night Yuugo had joked that perhaps she signed up for the wrong kind of fixing. Now he can’t even make those jokes, throat too tight to get the words out. 

“You look beautiful,” Yuugo says.

Rin’s cheeks glow. “What a sap.” She pushes up her sleeve and glances down at her watch, teeth in her lip. “Almost time …”

Yuugo swallows a pit in his throat. There’s a clock on the wall, and he’s known for the last hour that Rin has to go soon. She’s spending as long as she can with him, but it still hurts to know that she’ll be leaving soon.

Before Yuugo knows what’s happening, Rin’s back in his arms, sending them tumbling into the wall. Yuugo tries to find his footing, but Rin is stronger than him and her powerful legs keep them upright. Her arms wrap under his armpits and hold him up, and this time Yuugo feels like he’s melting into  _ her  _ touch.

“One last time,” she says, mouth pressed to his collar. She gives him a kiss, blows a raspberry against his skin, and the next thing Yuugo knows she’s out the door, too far for him to even stretch and touch her. The sun catches on her beautiful, tanned skin and bright, amber eyes. She waves back to him, arms arcing over her head.

Yuugo raises a hand. He smiles as widely as he can.

“See you when you get back, Rin-rin!” he says.

Her smile cracks for just a second, just enough for Yuugo to see that she might be hurting too – and then she hops into the van that will take her to the little village. The door closes on her grinning face; she was mouthing words to him, but over the sound of the car engine Yuugo doesn’t hear anything. The van pulls off from the curb and zips down the road. Yuugo watches it go for as long as he can, and then …

He sighs. His breath whooshes out of him, one great gust that threatens to blow him over. He feels like he might tip over, as if an entire part of him is suddenly gone. Yuugo feels like he could float up to the clouds, so he steadies a hand against the door until he can gather his bearings. Then he heads back inside, closing the door behind him,

The house is silent. It’s never been this quiet before, not even when they’ve been asleep. Yuugo hears the sound of the fridge vibrating, the sound of his feet pitter-pattering on the floor. No matter where he goes in the house he hears himself and no one else. 

“Guess I should put some TV on,” he muses aloud. That might help ease away from of the loneliness. He finds the remote and turns on the TV in the living room, and then heads to another room and plays music from Rin’s tablet. He doesn’t dwell on  _ what  _ noises he picks – anything will do. Besides, so long as Yuugo can hear something besides his own thoughts will be a success.

When the house is filled with noise, Yuugo heads to the kitchen. He pours himself a cup of tea and finds a snack, and then takes both out to his balcony. After dinner, he and Rin would always sit out on the balcony and drink tea and talk about their days. Though they work in the same shop and therefore see pretty much the same things, Yuugo has come to learn that Rin sees life just a little bit differently than him. She’ll remember different aspects of the day, like if someone used a particularly fancy word or if they had an interesting story to tell. Yuugo remembers the clients by the kinds of cars they drive, and knows who has a cat and who doesn’t.

Chuckling, Yuugo plunks himself down on the plastic lawn chair. He drops his phone on the table too, and checks it for any messages from Rin. It hasn’t been more than twenty minutes but Yuugo already feels an empty space in his heart and mind. Just how is he supposed to last a  _ month? _

Lazily, Yuugo opens up his photo gallery and flicks through his photos. He takes thousands of photos no matter what the occasion is. Just like he and Rin can tell different stories about their days, Yuugo takes pictures of the details he sees in the day. He’s not a photographer by any means, but sometimes he’ll see a pretty sunset or a cute cat and he’ll want to show Rin later. He could try and tell her the story, but sometimes a picture is worth more than a thousand words.

Peeking over the top of his phone, Yuugo spots just the kind of sight. Rin calls him a hopeless romantic kind of guy, but Yuugo really does love all of nature’s beauties. The sunset before him is one of those beauties. Dappled, cotton-candy-coloured clouds float through the sky. They look like marshmallows too, so puffy and bright. The sun is equally spectacular, a jewel in the centre of the sky. 

Yuugo clicks open his phone and snaps a picture. He lets himself sigh afterwards. Then, spinning his chair around, Yuugo takes a selfie. And another one. And another one. If he’s going to show Rin all the gorgeous natural beauties of the dimension, he might as well make sure he’s in the photos too.

At around the sixth selfie though, Yuugo feels his smile begin to fall. He pulls one of his cheeks upwards and snaps another photo, but his smile neither looks nor feels genuine. Tiredly, he drops his phone back down on the table. His tea has gone cold too, and no longer does he feel hungry. In fact, he feels sick to his stomach.

When Yuugo looks back out at the sunshine, he can’t seem to find the same beauty. He tries to picture where Rin might be – likely stuck in traffic heading out of City. She’s not even that far and already his heart aches.

_ It hasn’t even been a day,  _ he thinks.  _ It hasn’t even been a single day. _

It feels like it’s already been a year.

A gust of cold air whips over his cheeks. Yuugo shivers in his jacket, and then picks himself up and shuffles back inside, the tea and snacks forgotten. He heads back to his and Rin’s bedroom and flops down on the bed. As weird as it sounds, this room … smells like Rin. It has her scent, which is a scent Yuugo can’t quite put his finger to. It’s not a bad smell, or even really a good smell. But when Yuugo buries his face in the covers, he pictures Rin lying next to him, toying with his hair, telling him to get off the bed sheets so she can actually make the bed.

A sob bubbles up in his throat. This time when Yuugo glances up at the clock, he realises it’s been more than an hour – it’s closer to four or five. The day has flitted by without him.

_ How long was I out there for …? _ he wonders.

It doesn’t matter or even register in his mind. Yuugo tucks his legs up to his chest and curls into a tight ball. With his cheek pressed to the pillow, he stares straight ahead. Though he can’t see it clearly, there’s a photograph of him and Rin on the bedside table. Yuugo has memorised every pixel of that photograph: the shape of his and Rin’s faces; the smiles they wore; the beautiful, grassy hill they sat upon. Their hair had been as wild as their hearts that day. 

Yuugo rubs his face into the sheets to clear away his tears.

_ Hey, Rin, you missed the prettiest sunset today. I bet it didn’t look all that wonderful from the van that didn’t even have windows, so you would’ve had to push through so you could see through the front window. Sucks to be you. _

_ Me? I got to see it on the balcony. It was beautiful. _

_ But hey, don’t worry – I took a picture for you. I’ll show you when I get back. I’ll make sure you don’t miss a single day here in City … all right? _

_ I love you. _

* * *

Yuugo doesn’t even realise he’s asleep until he awakens with a startled gasp and a jump. His hand smacks against the rumpled bed sheets, looking for something or someone familiar. For one painful moment, he truly believes he’ll find her sleeping next to him, or he’ll hear her making breakfast in the kitchen because he was always the one to sleep in until the last minute. Yet he doesn’t see, hear, or feel her anywhere. The TV and tablet are still playing music, but none of the those noises sound like her. 

Right.

She left.

Not permanently, not even for long, but she’s … gone.

Yuugo pushes his face further into the sheets, breathing in her scent. The room is beginning to lose her scent, and no matter how weird that might seem Yuugo wants to roll himself up in all the wonderful Rin smells. He wants to hear her voice and feel her kisses. He wants her to say goodbye one more time even if it makes him cry like a baby.

But she can’t, not until she gets back.

Eventually, Yuugo pulls himself up off the bed. He has the day off; Rin told him to take it off because she thought he might need a day to himself after she left. Honestly, Yuugo thinks he should be at work. Were he at the shop fixing bikes, his mind could be elsewhere besides how lonely and bored he is at home. Sitting here, by himself –

He stomps a foot, willing the thoughts away. 

They still crash into him.

As quickly as he can, Yuugo throws himself together and heads out the door. He shoves a piece of bread in his mouth, and bites off as much of an apple as he can as he slips on his jacket and boots. The day that greets him is a bright, sunny day, with just enough wind that it rustles against his cheeks and eyelashes. Yuugo swallows the rest of his breakfast as he heads down the stairs and around the side of the building. His bike is under a little roof, just big enough to keep the rain off of it. 

In the world, there are two things Yuugo loves with all his heart: Rin first, bike second. He built the bike with Rin though, so perhaps that’s why it means so much to him. Its sleek, white body can cut through even the strongest winds. The green fiberglass provides both class and performance, making the bike as light as an eagle’s feather. Yuugo drags his fingers along the body of the bike; not even a speck of dirt catches on his gloved fingers.

With a proud smile, Yuugo hops onto the bike. He goes to start the engine, but he feels his phone in his pocket and hesitates. Rin has seen the bike a thousand times, and seen him on the bike a thousand times more … but one more time wouldn’t hurt, right?

Yuugo puts on his biggest smile before the camera.

And takes another, and another. This time, he manages even more, pulling faces for her or angling the camera so that she gets all the angles of him and the bike. He fiddles with the filters on the phone, adjusting the size of his eyes and adding sparkles around the bike. Rin hates these filters, but she likes his photos all the same.

_ Another photo you’ll have to wait and see,  _ he thinks.

He pushes himself onto the cement, and then to the edge of the road. The bike purrs to life – not an aggressive, angry thrum of the engine, but a gentle roll of the cogs and gears all coming together beneath him. Yuugo feels the bike breathe underneath him, and he too takes a deep breath through his nose. When he opens his eyes, the skies seem even bluer.

Somehow, Yuugo’s body seems to know where to go. He lets the bike lead him through the streets, never pushing himself to go too fast or too far; of course, his definition of speed is a bit different that the general populace’s. He weaves between slower traffic, heading out onto the country roads where he can really burn some rubber. Once he’s outside of the city centre, the whole dimension seem to open up to him. Roads arc up towards the skyscape or down into the earth, and Yuugo takes whatever path feels right. The world blurs all around him, too fast for his mind to take it in.

Were Rin here, she would have sat behind him and told him about the sights she could see. She would have told him stories too, for every memory she has includes a lengthy tale meant for a book. Rin is Yuugo’s favourite storyteller, after all. 

Today though, there’s no story nor comments about his driving from the peanut gallery. All Yuugo can hear is the wind in his ears and the thrum of his heart. It’s not wholly unpleasant, but not the same either. If he doesn’t keep his mind in check, it jumps back and says to him,  _ Hey, what would this be like if Rin were here? She’s gone, did you know? _

_ Not for long,  _ Yuugo tells himself.  _ Rin-rin is coming back. _

Eventually, the busy highway streets break away to dusty, country roads. The further Yuugo gets from City, the less industrial and congested the dimension becomes. These roads are slick under the D-Wheel, but Yuugo doesn’t slow down unless he has to pass someone. Thankfully, the country roads are equally quiet and Yuugo can whizz by undisturbed. 

The further out from City Yuugo gets, the greener the world becomes. The grey-stone buildings give way to grassy fields, sprawling across the earth like someone laid a great, green blanket over the land. Peeking through the grass are purple wildflowers, the kind kids might string in their hair or braid together to make flower crowns and bracelets. Yuugo used to make flower crowns for Rin all the time, especially when he was a younger and infatuated with her as if she was a goddess.

Yuugo slows down the bike, bringing it to a rolling jaunt. He tugs his phone out of his pocket and carefully takes a picture of the rolling fields. Naturally, it blurs – it looks more like smeared green and blue representing the grass and sky. Yuugo flicks the camera to video mode and tries again. This time, the video works; on the screen Yuugo sees the same sight of the flower-flecked grass and blue sky.

“You see that, Rin-rin?” he says to the camera. “That’s what you’re missing out on.” A chuckle. “I’m not guilt-tripping you, am I? Nah, I’m just making sure you don’t miss all the wonderful sights of the dimensions, like” – he flips the camera around – “me! And don’t laugh, I know you’re missing me too.”

Still giggling, Yuugo turns the video off. He revs the bike up, hears it purr like a cat getting its back scratched, and starts off down the road again. He follows the fields for as long as he can, until the dusty road forks in two. In the distance, Yuugo sees a spot of blue a bit darker than the sky, and he quickly turns the bike towards that. He hasn’t seen the ocean in a while, not since he and Rin have started working together. They’ve been so busy working that they haven’t had time for much else.

Yuugo drives the bike a bit more slowly, taking in the sights of the sea. The closer he gets, the more he can see where the sea meets the sky – two iridescent shades of blue colliding into one another like great cosmic forces. The sun shines down on both of them, giving off a melted, golden glow. Yuugo pulls his phone out again and snaps a picture.

He brings the bike right to the edge of the road, and from there a dirt path extends towards the water. Since he’s so secluded, Yuugo doesn’t worry about anyone going off with his bike and so he hops down the path. Small clumps of grass tickle at his toes; larger, swooping blades stretch towards his hands. Yuugo holds his arms out on either side of him so that he can feel the grass brush against his open palms.

At the end of the path is a gate leading to the water. Yuugo leaps over it and down to the edge of the grass. There, at his toes, he finds sand – soft, hot sand that’s been baking in the heat all day. Yuugo stretches down and presses a hand to the sand.

Then he fishes out his camera.

“Rin-rin, hey! You’re going to get a bunch of videos, don’t worry! We’ll watch them all when you get back, and it’ll be just like a home movie set featuring me! Oh, whoops – you can’t see me, I’ve got it on the wrong mode. Here!”

Yuugo flips the camera and flashes a big, cheesy grin. “Now you can see me, and I can see you! Er, well, you get the picture. Anyways, now you can’t see what I found, but here, I’ll give you a tour so you can find it all for yourself. See what’s at my feet? Sand! How long has it been since we last went to the beach? Too long I think.”

Yuugo taps his feet in the sand, kicking up small clouds with his toes. He buries his toes in the sand too, until it becomes too hot and, wincing, jumps back onto the grass. “Hot, hot!” he says to the camera, and then laughs. “You’re probably thinking,  _ Just what is that idiot doing?  _ Right? I know you’re thinking it, don’t lie to me, Rin-rin! But hey, feel jealous about the perfect place.

“And here? Can you see the sea, Rin-rin? I’ll take you to it – someday, that is, but for now let me just show you where I really want to go.”

Yuugo braves the hot sand once more. It hurts for a second, but as his soles adjust to the warmth Yuugo finds his entire body relaxing. He steps through the thick sand in great, clomping steps, all the way to the edge of the crystal-clear water. It’s not quite as blue as he thought it was – in fact, the water even looks transparent! Beneath the surface he spots small fish and shells. 

“You see those fish? Can’t eat those ones. Oh hey, look at those fish! Those ones have brighter colours. Didn’t you once tell me that brightly-coloured animals are poisonous? I better not touch those ones … Here, let me go in the water though –”

He jumps. He splashes. The cool water laps at his ankles, but water splashes all the way up to his knees. Yuugo shivers, and his lips buzz together with a strange, silly sound that Rin used to tease him for. The video catches it too, and Yuugo laughs as he realises what he’s done. “You hear me, Rin-rin? Just like when we were little! I wish you could feel this water – it’s so cold! Clean though, like I can see my toes in it. Here –”

He angles the camera down so that the video can capture his feet wiggling in the silt, creating small plumes of dust. He stomps his feet too, creating ripples in the water that distort his reflection on the surface. Yuugo sees himself in the camera and in the reflection, and he pulls a face he hopes Rin can see again and again. She always tells him he is the most expressive boy she’s ever met.

“You see, Rin-rin?” he says. “You see what you’re missing out on …?”

She does.

“I bet you’d want to take a day off and play in the water. I bet you’d want to be here. You’re over there though, working hard and fixing bikes and teaching mechanics. You never do get a break, do you?”

He rubs at his eyes with one hand, jostling the camera a bit. 

“But you’ll have to tell me about it, all right? You’ve got some cell service, I know you do. And besides, even if you won’t get this message until you’re back, I hope you know how proud I am of you. I hope you know how much I love you. I hope … I hope you know how much I miss you.” Hurriedly, Yuugo realises he’s filming his watery reflection and he flips the camera once more.

“There I am,” he says with a laugh. “I’ve got to film myself more and more, don’t you think? I’m nature’s greatest masterpiece. But … so are you. And I’m sappy and silly and we belong together, so you’ve got to come back quickly so we can be nature’s greatest duet too.

“I’m waiting for you, Rin-rin. The world ain’t complete without the two of us, so …” He sniffles loudly, brushing away the tears in his eyes. “So you have to come back and see these sights with me. The camera can’t capture all the beauty, and I’ve got stories to tell you too. And you – you’ve got stories to tell me. A whole month’s worth too!”

Yuugo takes a deep breath, but the water grounds him and holds him steady. The sun kisses his cheeks and the wind brushes his bangs. When he looks at the sky and the sea and the land, and every detail of the world he can see, he tries to imagine what Rin might be looking at. Is she looking at the same sky as him? Can she even see the sea?

“I’ll take you here someday, Rin-rin – but for now, I’ll fill you in on everything you’re missing. So let me show you the beauty of today, and when you get back … tell me a story about your trip.”


End file.
